“My best friends are all either bottomless skeptics or quite uncontrollable believers . . . .”

“It is one thing to believe in witches, and quite another to believe in witch-smellers.”

“It is assumed that the skeptic has no bias; whereas he has a very obvious bias in favour of skepticism.”

“I do not, in my private capacity, believe that a baby gets his best physical food by sucking his thumb; nor that a man gets his best moral food by sucking on his soul, and denying its dependence on God or other good things. I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

“The horrible thing about all legal officials, even the best, about all judges, magistrates, barristers, detectives, and policeman, is not that they are wicked (some of them are good), not that they are stupid (several of them are quite intelligent), it is simply that they have got used to it. Strictly they do not see the prisoner in the dock; all they see is the usual man in the usual place. They do not see the awful court of judgment; they only see their own workshop.”

“All we know of the Missing Link is that he is missing - and he won't be missed either.”

“The SkeletonChattering finch and water-flyAre not merrier than I;Here among the flowers I lieLaughing everlastingly.No: I may not tell the best;Surely, friends, I might have guessedDeath was but the good King's jest,It was hid so carefully.”